November 22, 2003

Fashion Faux Pas

I made my first of potentially many fashion faux pas today while dressing Kate. I picked items based on comfort rather than what matched. I think Kate looks good no matter what she has on, but looking back I have to admit the bright yellow sweatpants, blue socks and pink and white t-shirt I had on her was not the best choice (especially since she has such a nice selection of clothes). A quick change fixed this fashion mistake, but I'm afraid my fashion sense is beyond help. Thank goodness for Jean-Marie to keep us all looking our best!

November 21, 2003

Cockadoodledoo!

This morning Kate was up with the roosters with no signs of returning to sleep. Instead, she was ready to play and be cuddled. I caught this cute picture of dad holding Kate while sitting at his desk and going about his morning routine. How can you blame a face like that for lost sleep?

November 20, 2003

Another Happy Place

I have been meaning to add a post about Kate's other happy place -- her Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer. Kate's been digging this bouncy seat for a few weeks now. At first she didn't like it much. We think she found the toy bar a little too stimulating, so we removed it. Instead, we tried the calming vibrations feature. These nice little seat tremors are supposed to simulate the feeling of a car ride, another widely-recognized method of soothing a baby to sleep. All three of us really like it when this feature works!

Thus, a new happy place was found, and Katie has given the Aquarium Bouncer her baby thumbs-up seal of approval.

The post, though, does not stop there. Two days ago for our playtime I pulled the toy bar out of the closet and put it back on the bouncer. Now a few weeks older, Kate had a whole new interest level. She has put the bounce into the bouncer. She loves the little fishies, bubbles, lights and sounds that she activates by kicking the dangling fish or seahorse with her cute little feet. Isn't she adorable? And can you believe how much bigger and smarter she's gotten in just a matter of a few weeks?

November 19, 2003

Trip to the Mall

Today we visited Jen who is a long time friend of Jean-Marie's (since second grade) and who also cuts our hair (picture of Jean-Marie with Jen from the baby shower). This was Kate's longest visit away from the house. And since we were not sure how our little princess would react to being away from her castle for an extended period, we packed all our supplies for the trip, including a bottle that Jean-Marie pumped the day before.

While we were with Jen getting our hair coiffed, Grandma and Grandpa Maier walked Kate around the mall. From what I hear, Kate was not too interested in shopping and slept most of the time. Perhaps when she gets older, she will look back and realize what a missed opportunity it was to be in a mall and not leave with a new pair of shoes. ;-)

November 14, 2003

Do you see what I see?

A starfish, a starfish dangling above my head...

Kate has been getting much better control of her eyes -- focusing on objects and tracking them. This morning she was clearly checking out the starfish, seahorse, clam and fishy hanging on the mobile-in-motion above her head on her aquarium swing. The other morning I caught her laughing at them and carrying on a "baby talk" conversation with them. I think she was practicing her interviewing technique for when she takes over for the other, very famous Katie on the The Today Show. ;-)

November 13, 2003

Lots of Crying

Yesterday Kate had a very bad day. She spent most of the day crying non-stop. While having this gizmo potentially might have helped, all we could do was to try everything we could think of to soothe her. Unfortunately, not any one thing helped. Our efforts were met with mixed results throughout the day.

Whatever it was, it was just a 12 hour thing because Kate was much better by the nightime. When it was time to go to sleep for the evening she was a very good girl and had two 4-hour stretches of sleep.

November 11, 2003

The Entertainer

If I'm the nurturer in this family unit, then Ken is definitely the entertainer. A few weeks ago I promised a picture of Kate's toothless grin and I never disappoint. This afternoon Ken read to Kate her favorite book from the womb and she thought it was better than a clean diaper after a big, stinky poopie. Luckily she smiled enough times during storytime for me to get it digitally. After storytime was through, Ken got a really good one of Katie smiling right at him while I held her up. That daddy. He sure is a funny guy.

Pictures from our shopping trip

On the 5th I mentioned how we had been trying to get out of the house more often while Kate is sleeping. Here are some photos from the last two excursions to the mall (yesterday and the day before). As you can see, Kate had no problem sleeping in her stroller.

November 10, 2003

Operation: Spoon Full of Sugar

Today was a very traumatic day. Kate got her first shot -- a hepatitis B vaccine -- at her one-month doctor appointment. Okay, so maybe she got a shot or two in the hospital but now she was completely in our care. This simple detail is a big difference, because Ken and I are now co-conspirators in bringing Kate to a place where she would receive something that would arouse unhappy emotions.
We think Kate was on to our master plan because she was extremely uneasy in the waiting room. Her baby acne even began to flare up, as it does anytime she gets hot or bothered. Since she generally doesn't cry or fuss too much, this was very much unlike her usual demeanor. Perhaps she could smell our fear...okay...my fear. :-) We tried to settled her down by taking turns holding her and walking her around the room. It helped a little but not much.
I think now might be a good time to mention that I couldn't even look while Kate got her shot. Ken had to do all of the dirty work. While I was sitting in a chair looking the other way and waiting for the cry, Ken was calmly talking to Kate with one arm across her body to keep her as still as possible.
Of course I didn't get off the hook completely in our co-conspiracy. I had another role in all of this -- the nurturer (a/k/a good cop). I was the luckier one in this plan of pain. I nursed Kate right after her shot to soothe her suffering and distress. Essentially, I was the spoon full of sugar that made the medicine go down.
Needless to say, our little plan went off without a hitch. By the time we were done nursing, the shot was a distant memory and our little Katie was ready for her late afternoon nap.
In other health news, the pediatrician said Kate is doing very well. She weighed in at 8 lbs., 12 oz. and measured 22 inches. Although she gained an inch this past month, she still hasn't quite reached her birth weight. The doctor didn't appear to be concerned though at all. And as usual Ken and I had a list of typed and printed questions for the doctor. We questioned everything, from Kate's crying during bowel movements to her complete displeasure of sleeping flat on her back in her bassinet or crib (which is why you rarely see her in her cribcam anymore). His answer to nearly everything was, "normal." Whew! We may not win Parents Of The Year but at least our kid is still normal. :-)
Next month Kate gets four shots, two in each leg. I hope I have enough time to prepare for this emotionally. What am I going to do when she gets old enough to really know what's going on? I've heard the screams...and I mean screams...of the older children getting shots in the other examination rooms. I don't like it one bit. Ken and I better start working on "Operation: ToysRUs" now.

November 08, 2003

Upcoming Shots

Kate has her first set of shots on Monday. While any pain might be short-lived, if Kate cries it will definitely wrench at our hearts. Keep your fingers crossed that this visit goes as smoothly as possible.

November 07, 2003

Happy Birthday

November 05, 2003

Sneaking Out of the House

Jean-Marie and I have been more adventurous taking Kate out of the
house. We've been running some errands and stopping into restaurants
to eat with Kate. For the last few weeks we've really been 'stuck' in
the house so getting out has been very refreshing. Our biggest worry
has been how Kate will be in the "outside" world, but the "trick" has been to feed her prior to leaving the house and then getting as much accomplished in the 2-3 hour window as possible :)

November 01, 2003

Kate's First Halloween

Although she won't have any memories of it, our little sweet pea celebrated her first Halloween. She also got to meet grandma and grandpa Maier for the very first time.
After taking a bath and getting dressed up in her costume, little Kate didn't have much more energy left in her. She slept off the rest of the evening in the arms of grandma, grandpa or her swing. Grandpa was nice enough to pass out candy to our trick or treat visitors when they rang the bell. And even with all of the doorbell ringing, Katie slept soundly without even the slightest boo. ;-)